i'm right now the house of representatives in recess after recessing for an hour and a half. they are waiting to reconvene to take up the fiscal cliff deal. after the gop meeting, we may learn when the house might vote on the deal and when republicans might amend it. house democrats are meeting on capitol hill with vice president joe biden. he is there to explain the deal he and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell brokered and that the senate approved. the white house is keeping a close eye on today's developments in the house. stay with msnbc for more updates. and now back to hardball.

two steps forward, one step backward. let's play "hard ball." >> let me start this last night of the year with this, two steps forward, one step forward, that's the year if you look at it. so many good decisions as a society. we saw the angry faces of reaction to demographic change in the beginning. the people bringing guns to political events. the faces of hatred in the birther mularkey. the dog whistling whether it was about the president or his surrogate, susan rice. guess what? none of it worked. it just didn't. who would have known how powerfully americans, america itself could not just reject but repel this nasty appeal.

it didn't work. then we had the horror in newtown, connecticut. even animals cannot kill 20 victims in ten minutes, for that it takes state of the art fi firepower. david, i want to start with your year, when the big bubble goes up, and we say what does this year all mean? >> we talked about this throughout the year. i think the campaign was one of the most significant, but also the most ideological campaigns that we've had. you had two different starkly different approaches to america, policies, and america's future put forward by mitt romney and barack obama. one was very progressive and communal in nature, the other is you're on your own, get the government out. small businesses do everything on their own. the country really was engaged and paid attention. at the end, 53% chose the more

progressive fission. it was a hard-fought campaign that shows there is a move in that direction on the country at large. at the same time, while the middle is moving in a progressive direction, i think on the right, you saw this with the republican primary, they're moving further to the right. so a bigger gulf is developing. >> now it's probably critical because people said what they didn't like about romney was his lack of authenticity, he had to go so far to catch up to his crowd on the right and race back across the center line. >> still, even while he was doing that, he did represent an over-arching view of how government should work and where the country should go. >> he was waving their flag. >> was a good, positive progressive vote. >> certainly. >> ryan, your thoughts, putting it altogether including the gun violence we saw a few weeks ago,

in what was a glowing year in many ways. >> david is on to something here. two things are going on in an encouraging direction we have the majority of the country, i think, turning in a more progressive direction as david suggested here. you see it out here in the state of washington, where we just, you know, legalized marriage for day couples and legalized marijuana, as did colorado. >> put those two together, if you can. >> at certain weddings they can. >> no i think it's the west village at large, the values of manhattan caught on to the country. >> at the same time you have a counter reaction to that by people in the right wing who are becoming more and more radicalized. you see that -- i don't want to say the shooting in connecticut was a result of right-wing

ideology, but it's interesting that we're hearing reports that this young man's mother was in fact a radicalized survivalist who was spending a lot of time in the woods shooting powerful weaponry she kept around the house. we are a bifurcated country, where the right is going more to the right, and the left is moving a little. >> we are not a right wing country, as some people and i worried we might be becoming. on the issue of same-sex marriage, more than half the country, this is the whole united states, say they support it. stark difference from 1996 when only 27% of the country supported day marriage. that number doubled in a couple of years. i grew up thinking we would never have an african-american

president, or even this thing with same-sex marriage. >> i think the poll numbers are being driven by basically some -- >> i'm trying to create some excitement here. 53%, including mississippi, alabama, louisiana -- >> sure. sure. >> older men, 80-year-old guys, 80-year-old women and the younger kids. >> i think it's being driven by younger folks say there's no problem here. and older folks coming around. on economic issues, when you talk about the role of government, taxation, things like that, those are things that can swing back and forth. we'll be fighting about that in the year ahead on spending, entitlements, the fiscal cliff. but you can talk to people on the right and they will say we've lost. we will not get these back. these are advances that will not be reversed. that's a good thing. >> i think don't ask don't tell is not coming back. when it comes to a key policy question of the economy, whether taxes should be raised on people

at the top, the wealthiest americans, an overwhelming majority, 60% say yes, they should. on the question of immigration, the country is not as divided as people might think. more than 60% wanted immigration reform policy. ron, on all these fronts, people seem to be taking a tolerant view of people in trouble, not a particularly happy view about people with a lot of money that they feel have gotten off scott free. i think that's a fair generalization now. >> the 1% does not represent the majority of the country. if you ask 99% of the people do you mind if the wealthiest 1% have to pay more in taxes, they're not going say i hate that. i feel sorry for those rich people who will have to pay more out of their pocket. it's just a different thing. but the fight goes on politically in washington, of course, in terms of taxes and

budget and everything else. the assault on the social welfare state continues. the right may give up on day marriage, but they won't give up on tearing medicare and social security apart and privatizing them. that fight is going to continue. >> i think there's a lot of americans who would like to get rid of all the welfare programs we have. the whole notion from the right that big government is bad, we have to get rid of big government, that is a popular no notion that gets out of the right wing ghetto. president obama says we need government to come together, invest in innovation, health care, the public accepts that. other times ronald reagan comes along and says government is the problem and people rally behind that. that's a fight. >> it's a pendulum, too. >> on afghanistan, an issue close to my heart, a war going on for more than 11 years, the american public sick of it.

60% say remove all the troops as soon as possible. 35% say stay in there until afghanistan is stabilized. 11 years and 35% of the people say until it's stabilized. it's not going to get done. >> no it's not. it's remarkable that the country is decidedly less pro war than a few years ago. we have had these wars that do nothing for the country. we are illegitimate in one case to have a war in the first place. we don't want to be sending our young people off to a central asian hot spot anymore to spend a decade there, what? building a nation in afghanistan? >> here we go. we can welcome in the new year with iran. that's tough one for even me. the neocons always have a pez

dispenser. there is always a war ready to come up. whether it's iran, you could wait -- here's my next one. >> if you want to talk about the good news of the past year, you had romney embracing the neocon view, john mccain talking about eight wars that were ready to roll off the shelves if mitt romney got elected. the public are skeptical about wars thanks to george w. bush and the invasion of iraq. they looked at that and they didn't fall for it. this election was not decided on foreign policy, but romney tried hard to say president obama was weak, and an appeaser, didn't know anything about national security. the american public did not fall for that bait or trick. >> the only way to get his gang of kids in uniform was to photo shop them. he wasn't exactly mr. military any way. thank you david corn and ron reagan. coming up, the best of

campaign '12. think of this as a football highlight show. the first debate, we'll go over all the hits and misses with some smart observers. and we have the annual list of the most notable quotes of the year. the list is full of bloopers like legitimate rape and etch-a-sketch. let's see if you can see which verbal stumble made the list. and the crazy conspiracy theorys that the right wing spun this season. here's one from rush, the weather forecaster s manipulated the weather in tampa so the republicans would have to delay their first day of the convention. this is "hardball" the place for politics. bring out chicken broccoli alfredo. or best-ever meatloaf. go to campbellskitchen.com for recipes, plus a valuable coupon. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

it's time for the "hardball" campaign 2012 postgame show.

we will start with the highlights, the low lights, and then move on to the general election. mitt romney summed up the primary season in an infamous call to donors. we had 20 republican debates. it was absolutely nuts. and then the tone was set early. the august 2011 debate when they were assembled on stage, showed their intransigence on taxes. watch grover norquist's people go to work here. let's listen. >> i'm going to ask a question to everybody on the stage. say you had a deal, a real spending cuts deal. 10-1, as byron said. spending cuts to tax increases. speaker, you're already shaking your head. but who, on this stage, would walk away from that deal? when you raise your hand if you just feel so strongly about not raising taxes, you'd walk away on the 10 to 1 deal.

>> joining me right now to review that list of greatness, former rnc chairman michael steele who never had a year like this. seriously, both msnbc contributors. that was a scene where you come from the roots of the republican party, sir. was that a good day or a bad day for the republicans when they went out there like lock step? >> i think it was a bad day. it was interesting that later on huntsman said, you know, i probably should have raised my hand and said i would have taken the 10 to 1 deal. i think he recognized after the fact that that was a definitive moment where he could have carved out a new space on that page and probably run the campaign free of that baggage. >> you know, when a bill is passed, you want to be the one that voted for it. or else vote for the bill when

it fails. >> he began to lock himself into a position of grover norquisting himself for the whole election. and that played into who he was as a businessman. >> it's today's politics. it's like they used to say, you have to be the most segregationist guy in the south. you could never be an inch away from it. somebody would always go to the right. >> i guess you can say that whatever an early primary season crowd claps is going to kill you in october 15th in ohio. >> okay. let's go back to this. i'm thrilled sometimes at how great politics is. the iowa caucus. it was another unique state. mitt romney's campaign, the super pac supporting him were on a mission to annihilate him. just bomb the hell out of him.

newt gingrich was the biggest threat. they destroyed him. here's a romney-supporting ad destroying newt. >> know what makes barack obama happy? newt gingrich's backage. $1.6 million. gingrich not only teamed up with nancy pelosi on global warming, but together, they co-sponsored a bill that gave $60 million a year to a u.n. program parting china's brutal one-child policy. >> there's been discussion in my head on whether or not ads work in a general election. i don't think they work in presidential elections in october. but those ads out there -- tell me? >> primaries, they are deadly. particularly in republican primaries. that ad in particular for newt gingrich was devastating. because it hit -- it was the kitchen sink. it threw it all in there.

>> what did it say about him that you didn't like? >> it said he's an insider, he's a washington pal. and, look, he even pals around with nancy pelosi. didn't we just fire her? >> didn't you see those loving looks that they managed to work with the camera shot? >> you know, real quick on that. the interesting thing, if i were newt, i would have pif votded o pivoted off that caption of him and nancy together because that's what the people are looking for. that partnership working, getting things done. >> but they were talking about global warming. >> the other thing about that ad, that was symbolic of the entire mitt romney campaign strategy in the primaries. which was a take-no-prisoners attack the other guy's strategy. it was not about philosophy. it did nothing to show that mitt romney was a committed conservative. it just showed mitt romney had tons of money and some very clever consultants who could carve up anybody in his path. that left him with a lot of making up to do once he secured the nomination.

the way he got the nomination as typified by that ad showed weakness in this camp. >> let's go back to the strategy, which it was. somebody is going to be the republican nominee and that person is going to be obama. therefore, all you have to do is be that nominee. >> that was his theory. as howard just noted, and neil sedaka made famous "making up is hard to do." once he secured that nomination in early spring, he wanted everybody to fall in line and support him, and it just wasn't there. >> throughout the republican primary, mitt romney pushed himself so far to the right. pes pes pes especially on immigration, and it was nearly impossible to backtrack on. and, by the way, i don't think he even tried one. it became a defining line on the hard right for romney. let's listen. >> governor romney, there's one thing i'm confused about. you say you don't want to go and round up people and deport them. but you say they would have to go back to their home country

and then apply for citizenship. if you don't deport them, how do you send them home? >> the answer is self deportation. people decide that they can do better by going home. because they can't work here because they don't have legal documentation. so we're not going to round people up. >> so what was wrong with that? >> first of all, the phrase, self deportation -- >> was inevitably a headline. >> yes. and managed to summarize everything that people didn't like about mitt romney. >> you know, like firing you. >> the firing part of it in the sort of cold, technocratic part of it. these are just numbers on a spread sheet. these people will self-deport. and i think the combination of the two the cold heartedness and the cold bloodedness of it played into everybody's view of romney. >> like the bathtub will overflow, and these people will flow out of the country. >> it's not just realistic. the titterring and snickering you heard -- >> grandma wakes up.

you kids are staying, you were born here, i'm out of here. >> this was funny. i hope it didn't ruin the guy's life because it was so funny. he was considered a serious contender. many thought he'd win this thing until some lackluster debate performances gave primary voters second thoughts. and then came this moment, november 9th, big debate. here he s trying to remember the three government agencies he wants to get rid of. let's watch. >> i will tell you, it's three agencies of government when i get there that are gone. commerce, education, and the -- what's the third one there? let's see. >> you need five. >> five. okay. commerce, education and the -- >> epa? >> epa. there you go. >> seriously? is epa the one you were talking about? >> no, sir. we were talking about the

agencies of government -- the epa needs to be rebuilt. >> you can't name the third one? >> the third aej agency of government, i would do away with education, commerce, and let's see -- >> i can't. the third one, i can't. sorry. oops. >> he wasn't going to get help from his pals there. that's where they come out, the first thing they do in the debates, they start scribbling on the notes. >> props to john harwood there. >> was he brutal? up next, the right wing's most famous conspiracy theorys about president obama. this is "hardball." [ man ] ring ring... progresso

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back to "hardball." the final weeks of president obama's first term are upon us. it's hard to remember the bizarre conspiracy theories pushed about the president the last four years. let's look back at some of the worst first. first, president obama's 2010 trip to india. u.s. congresswoman michelle obama and others on the right were up in arms about what the trip would cost. >> i think we know that just within a day or so, the president of the united states will be taking a trip over to india that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. we have never seen a trip at this level before, at this level of excess. it's not a good signal. the american people are quite frankly struggling right now. >> for comparison, $200 million a day would have surpassed the daily cost of the war in afghanistan at the time. that nonfactual story about the cost of obama's trip was started by an unnamed source on an

indian news website and somehow got into the ether there. we can't talk about conspiracy theories without bringing up rush limbaugh. remember the first day of the republican convention was canceled due to hurricane isaac, rush floated the idea that president obama was somehow involved with the weather reports, showing that tampa might get hit. >> you've got a hurricane coming. the national hurricane center, with a government agency, very hopeful that the hurricane gets near tampa. national hurricane center is obama. national weather service, part of the commerce department. it's obama. obama is sending in fema in in advance of the hurricane hitting tampa. so the republican convention is nothing but a bunch of tents in tampa, a bunch of rvs and stuff making it look like a disaster area before the hurricane even hits there. >> was he laughing at his own bs there?

did you ever think rush limbaugh would warn of us a skewed weather report? next, an extreme case of preelection fear mongering. what caused judge hed to float the idea of a tax increase in his state in it was about the need to beef up military personnel in case civil war broke out in case president obama got re-elected. here's judge hedd on that one. >> i'm thinking worst case scenario, civil civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war, maybe. we're not talking just a few riots here, demonstrations. we're talking lexington, concord, take up arms and get rid of the guy. he's going to send in u.n. troops. i don't want him in lubbock county. i'm going to stand in front of the armored pe eed personnel ca and say you're not coming in here. the sheriff, i said are you going to back me? he said yeah, i'll back you. >> loony tunes.

finally birtherism with a twist. here's iowa, u.s. congressman steve king with how president obama's mother managed to convince us all that her son was born in hawaii, not in kenya. >> i looked into that before he was sworn in for the presidency. we went down into the library of congress and found a microfiche there of two newspapers in hawaii, each of them had published the birth of barack obama. it would have been awfully hard to fraudulently file the birth notice of barack obama being born in hawaii. that doesn't mean there are not some explanations on how they might have announced that by telegram from kenya. >> by telegram. i guess she neglected to consider the mother, naming her son barack husein obama might be a minor setback for her son's future run for the presidency of the united states. any way, up next, these people are looney. from mitt romney's 47% video to president obama's debate disaster in november, you're watching "hardball" the place

for politics.

welcome back to "hardball." now that we marked the highlights of the gop primary, let's go into the general campaign. the taped comments to donors down in florida that half the americans are lazy and happy to be on the government dol, it's known as the 47% video.

>> never trust the caterers. any way, joining me, michael steele and howard fineman. let's look at the 47%. if you are right about this election in terms of power, it's the numbers. the occupy people, 1%. the 1% became something to talk about elite economically. then the 47%. anybody who's on any kind of government benefit program. whether it's disability or retirement or military or pension. everything was painted as bad. where did he get that number? >> well, look, you know, this election was all about the numbers. 23 million unemployed, 1 in 6 on

welfare. but it was that 47% number that trumped them all at the end of the day. people galvanized around that. because it was them. it was me. you're talking about me. you're talking about my grandma. you're talking about every-day folks. it really drew out that disconnect between the romney campaign and romney personally and everyone else. >> do you think it's his brand of ideology? >> no. >> do you think there's a few people out there pulling the load for everybody else? >> no, i think it's a cold, calculated business look. that's how he looks at it. it's like, hey -- >> i disagree. i think it's his philosophy and i think it showed in that tape. >> how do you know it's his philosophy? >> i'm guessing. >> mitt romney -- you can't say it's his philosophy because he never told us what that was. >> i think he said some nice things at one point. >> when he spoke at the democratic national convention, former president bill clinton brought the house down. this was one of the great speeches ever, i think, and it made the case for reelecting president obama in a way the candidate himself never got able to do, even to the end. let's listen to big bill at his best.

>> are we better off than we were when he took office? [ cheers ] then, listen to this. listen to this. everybody's forgotten. everybody's forgotten when president barack obama took office, the economy was in freefall, it had just shrunk nine full percent in gdp. we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. are we doing better than that today? the answer is yes. >> you know, i was thinking back to the fairy tale remark he made four years before that hurt him more than obama. but the guy's showmanship with the gesticulation, the hands, the whole dinemism, the way he presents himself. >> earlier this year, i wrote oh, who needs conventions what are they for, anyway? they're for moments like that. i was on the floor at that

moment. >> it worked in the hall. >> it was one of the most memorable things i've seen live in a hall or anywhere. that was bill clinton at the summation of his career. that was everything he learned about showmanship, about telling a story, and about how to make the case for the president. he made it so simply, so clearly, so logically that you wondered why the supposed great speech fi speechifier, barack obama, couldn't do it. that's probably because the kind of case he had to make, somebody other than the president had to make. if the president himself says, you know we were in a terrible situation when i came in, it doesn't sound as compelling. >> i had a moment like that up in new hampshire when clinton was running the first time. he's in new hampshire, he already gotten through the draft letter, gotten through the problem with the girlfriend way back when. the draft letter was killing him. then he went out to these field

house houses in high school gyms, and he spock in the round. and he would go on the last question in the room he'd answer. and rick hertzburg said to me nobody in our generation can do that. only he can to that. >> what also impressed me about that, i was covering that very same series of events was his will. bill clinton's will to succeed. >> he wouldn't quit. that's what separates him from the losers. you take the worst falls in the world and come running back. any way, another turning point that threatened to derail this campaign, it was purely negative, though it was a pretty good day for mitt romney. the president's listless performance which he says caused me to have a stroke afterwards, i was so appalled by it. here's part of his closing argument, if you want to call it that, an argument. let's listen to president, a bad night for him. >> you know, four years ago, i said i'm not a perfect man and and i wouldn't be a perfect president. and that's probably a promise that governor romney thinks i've kept. but i also promised that i'd fight every single day on behalf of the american people, the middle class, all those striving

to get into the middle class. i've kept that promise. if you'll vote for me, then i promise i'll fight just as hard in the second term. >> i don't know. i don't know what to say even now. the man has so much juice and excitement about him. his brain is always working on two or three levels when you're with him. here he is, i want off this channel. i want off the stage. >> i think a lot of it had to do with how he feels personally about mitt romney. the idea that he was on the stage with him he felt was just beneath him. this guy was someplace else. yeah it was his anniversary, but politically, he was thinking why am i dealing with tier two. it showed. >> let's look at the impact of hurricane sandy and the pictures we saw on television, right before the election. we saw the president of the united states, a democrat, facing a really tough re-election situation, along with a pretty popular governor of new jersey. here he is, the president, at a press conference with new jersey governor chris christie, october

31st. week before the election. >> we are not going to tolerate red tape, we are not going to tolerate bureaucracy. i instituted a 15-minute rule on my team. you return everybody's phone call within 15 minutes. if it's the mayor's, the governor's, county officials, if they need something, we figure out a way to say yes. >> whatever he said, there's so much devastation in the new york area, new jersey. it's worse than we've thought in the beginning. it just keeps getting worse and worse. but that picture, i think it was just two people of different parties. and the biggest applause i've heard in the campaign was can't we work together? >> that's what people wanted all along throughout this entire campaign was seeing the republicans and democrats, conservatives and liberals coming together around a common goa goal. >> why do you think that bipartisan sh bipartisanship was not as strong? >> i think that was there. and i think to chris christie's credit, he galvanized the moment

to action. but you saw a cooperation. you saw his government and the federal government coming together to solve people's problems. >> and they addressed them in work clothes. they had the fleece. >> had the fleece on. slooe sleeves rolled up. >> you are the best. i love politics. >> we grow with yoagree with yo. >> i'm breaking this story here. certain things thought when people rise to the occasion, they did the right thing. and i love bill clinton coming to save his old rival. and he did. anyway, thank you, michael steele. thank you howard fineman. up next, from etch-a-sketch to legitimate rape to 47%. yale university hat list of the most notable political quotes of the year. which quote tops it? that's ahead. and this is "hardball" the place for politics. [ lisa ] my name's lisa, and chantix helped me quit.

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we're back. 2012 is coming to a close. let's look back at a few of the most memorable quotations. everything from the historic, to the infamous to the absurd. for the seventh year, fred shapiro has released his list of the top ten quotes. which ones will stand the test of time? you be the judge. joining me right now is a columnist for bloomburg review. gentlemen, get in your starting gates. here's the number one, actually, the number seven quote of the year, it happened in march while the republican primary fight was still going on. romney had been pushed to the far right on a host of issues, and most were asking could he

pivot back to the center in the general election? then one of his top advisers said this. let's watch. >> he hit a reset button for the fall campaign. everything changes. it's almost like an etch-a-sketch. you can shake it up, we start all over again. >> i've never seen a guy just give away the signals. here's our secret plan for the general election. we're going to pretend we're moderates. and there, he did. >> he not only gave away the plan, they had to then cancel the plan and they didn't actually pivot to the center until that first debate many months later. so what that etch-a-sketch comment did was it almost cost them the election right there. it prevented them from scampering back to the middle in time. on issues like immigration and it didn't allow romney the running room to win the election. >> he also said i don't believe a word i spoke since i began running for president.

here's one for you. if one comment crystallized the overwhelming trouble the republican party had with the american women voters, it was this. take a look at number 6. >> first of all, from what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> i love the double whammy this guy. if -- let's start with the first part -- if it's a legitimate rape. what did that mean? >> well, what it meant was absolutely unjustifiable. and it was the reason for the potential for todd aiken to go off the reservation on an issue that was one of the democrats seizing on and prepared to hit him on. sort of shows why he was such a weak candidate, and why democrats wanted him to be the nominee, to the point where they advertised democratic super pacts in his primary for the republican nomination to run for senate against claire mccaskell in

missouri as it said todd aiken is too conservative. he's never voted to raise taxes. he is opposed to abortion. and republican primary voters there in missouri said hey, this sounds like our kind of guy. so democrats kind of meddled in that primary. they got the candidate that they wanted and he self destructed just as they wanted, making what should have been a tough reelection fight for claire mccaskell kind of a cake walk. >> as the royal mounted miss always say, we always get our money, and claire mccaskill got her man. the president bounced back with two strong showings. here's a memorable line from the third debate that ranked as the number five quote of the year. take a look. >> you mentioned the navy, for example. we had fewer ships than we did in 1916. well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets. because the nature of our military has changed. we have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. we have the ships that go under water, nuclear submarines.

>> talk about patronizing. meanwhile, perhaps the most memorable moment from the debates occurred in the second debate. >> the president said on the day after the attack, he went into the rose garden and said this was an act of terror. >> you said in the rose garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror. it was not a spontaneous demonstration. that what you're saying? >> please proceed, governor. >> john, there is so much to that phrase. please proceed. was that constitutional law class? >> i love that. >> what was that? was that "the good wife"? i don't know what it was. it was a courtroom scene there, i think. >> he just led him right into the trap. and that was very harmful to mitt romney because not only did it take benghazi off the table, it basically took foreign policy off the table.

it seemed like in the third debate that romney barely showed up because he had basically ceded all of foreign policy to the president. that's what the polls were showing. but also, it's something that you very rarely see in a debate, chris, which is a clean kill. you've got lloyd benson doing it to dan quayle. two or three other examples in the entire history of presidential debates. and this was the perfect one where romney was very well prepared on many other issues, was taken by his staff to a place that he shouldn't have been, where he is trying to score points on an issue where he shouldn't have been trying to score. >> i could just add to this. >> go ahead, what made that so effective is he wasn't even the one who delivered the sort of kill line. it was candy crowley, the moderator of the debate. because of what romney said is that obama did not use those words was so demonstrably false that the moderator stepped in at the time and fact checked him and said you're wrong. that was so devastating.

>> well said, well said. it was critical. he is right, john. the next quote caused the internet to blow up. twitter instantly went wild. it's the number two line of the year. let's take a listen. >> we took a concerted effort to good out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. i went to a number of women's groups and said can you help us find folks. they brought us whole binders full of women. >> what did yale decide was the quote of the year? this probably won't shock you. in some ways it defined what the election is all about. let's watch. >> there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. all right? there are 4 % who are with him, who are dependent on him, and believe that they're victims, who belief the government has the

responsibility to care for them. so my job is not to worry about those people. i'll never -- they should take first responsibility and care for their lives. >> agreed, john, agreed, ken, that this was the line that put him away? >> not only was this unbelievably divisive in a country that likes to think of itself as one country, but it was critically important that it was caught on surreptitious video. if this is something he had said in public, it would have been a big gaffe, but not as big as seeing it on that video where the voter is thinking ah-ha, now i'm seeing the real mitt romney, not the one in the packaging. >> and not just that, the setting, that he was speaking to wealthy donors who he could be candid with. it was like the true mitt romney talking to his people in this setting. just so illustrative of what people's preconceptions, worst preconception of who mitt romney was. >> you know, a really good lawyer in washington to make your point told me other day in criminal cases, the worst thing that can happen in a criminal trial is just to hear the voice of your client on tape there is something about caught on tape. ever since nixon, i don't know. what you don't want to be caught

on tape. thank you. merry christmas, happy new year to both of you guys. happy new year. when we return, let me finish with my thoughts on the year that was. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ these are... [ male announcer ] marie callender's puts everything you've grown to love about sunday dinner into each of her pot pies. tender white meat chicken and vegetables in a crust made from scratch. marie callender's. it's time to savor.

let me end tonight and the year with this. i said it was a year of two steps forward, one step backward. a reasonable judgment about america in 2012 is we are a more

diverse people than some imagined. we are a country more tolerant of our diversity than i imagined. was it a good year for america? my answer is yes. as a country, we backed the rights of women, increasingly backed those of gay people. we voted as a people who believe not just in life and liberty, but the pursuit of happiness. from a distance of 236 years, we were very loyal to the opening words of the declaration of independence. i never believed president barack obama had a second term in the bag. the night of his first debate with governor romney i thought that he was on his way out of town, be he wasn't. his vice president out-battled his rival. the president himself came back to show that he was not a man to be taken down twice. most important, he got some breaks. the supreme court upheld health care. the jobless rate dropped below 8%. mitt romney showed himself a man at home with his fellow rich out on a limb when trying to be someone he isn't, a right-wing simpleton. we look forward to a new year and a administration with a significantly progressive president.